Low Carbon Hub, a community energy social enterprise in Oxfordshire, has successfully raised 80% of its £500,000 community investment goal for the UK’s first community‑owned battery at Ray Valley Solar Park in Arncott, near Bicester, with more than a month still to run on the share offer. Around 200 investors have already committed £440,000 to the project via the impact‑investing platform Ethex, with minimum investments of £100 and a ceiling of £100,000.
The bulbous solar park can generate enough clean power for about 7,000 homes, but under the current setup some of the output is lost on very sunny days because the local grid cannot absorb it all, and more power is produced when wholesale prices are lower. The planned £1.8 million battery will capture surplus daytime generation and discharge it when demand and prices are higher, improving both utilisation and revenues.
Low Carbon Hub estimates the battery will save roughly 809 MWh of otherwise‑wasted electricity per year – enough to power around 300 homes – and deliver an extra 102 tonnes of carbon savings annually by displacing more carbon‑intensive generation during peak hours. All profits from the Hub’s projects, including Ray Valley, are reinvested into local energy efficiency, emissions reduction and community sustainability initiatives.
Chief executive Dr Barbara Hammond MBE said the strong investor response shows appetite for genuine community ownership of clean energy infrastructure, and the aim is to over‑fund the project so even more of the asset can be held by the community. Another early investor, Eleanor Watts, highlighted both the fair financial return and the satisfaction of knowing part of the profit supports local environmental work.
The Ray Valley battery sits within one of the UK’s largest community‑owned solar parks and reflects a broader move to blend local generation with storage and direct community ownership, using philanthropy and community finance as a lever to reduce reliance on conventional loans.
